Coaching Staff

Director of Rugby John Kingston was educated at Durham School and played for England Schools before attending Cambridge University. Captaining the light blues to victory in the 1982 Varsity Match, John then played for Newcastle Gosforth, Rosslyn Park, Middlesex, England U23s and England B.

After a successful period coaching Richmond RFC, John moved to Ireland to coach Connacht-based Galwegians in 1999. In the first of his two seasons, he guided the side into Division 1 and cemented their place in that league a year later by finishing second.

In 2001, John joined Harlequins. With over 15 years’ experience at the Club, John was announced as the successor to Conor O'Shea as Harlequins' Director of Rugby in April 2016 having been promoted from Head Coach. He has led the way in helping to develop exceptional talents in the squad.

In his first season as Director of Rugby, Harlequins returned to the top table of European rugby by securing a spot in 2017/18 Champions Cup.

Mark Mapletoft is the club’s Head Coach. A former Gloucester, London Irish, Saracens and Harlequins player, he returned to The Stoop in 2010.

During his playing career Mark was capped at every level of rugby for England, winning a full cap against Argentina in 1997 and also representing the Barbarians.

After retiring in 2005, he began his coaching career as an Academy coach for Saracens before spending four years with the Rugby Football Union as a National Academy Coach. His roles and achievements included Backs coach and Head Coach of the England Under 20 team that reached successive IRB Junior World Cup Finals in 2008 and 2009, and a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2008.

Winning 54 caps for England and touring twice with the British and Irish Lions as a player, he won two Heineken Cups and four Premiership titles with Leicester Tigers.

After retiring in 2007 he joined the England set up in 2008 and toured with the Lions in 2009 to South Africa as a coach. Four years later he was named assistant coach for the historic tour of Australia and in 2017 was named again as a coach for the tour to New Zealand.

One of the greatest players in the professional era to have pulled on the famous Harlequins quarters, Nick Easter was named as Defence Coach for the 2016/17 season.

Joining in 2004 from Orrell, Easter made 281 appearances for Harlequins, more than any other, and was integral to the European Challenge Cup and Aviva Premiership successes of 2011 and 2012 respectively.

It wasn't just at The Stoop where Nick was a success, he played 54 times for England, represented his county at three Rugby World Cups and famously scored four tries against Wales in a single match in 2007.

Known as 'Minty' to many, Easter won four Harlequins Player of the Year awards and ran in 53 tries in his time at The Stoop.

Harlequins’ Skills Coach Collin Osborne has been with the club since 1990 in a tenure which has lasted over 20 years. Before his time at Harlequins, Collin was a PE teacher and became the Director of Coaching and Development for the Zimbabwe Rugby Union in 1987.

Joining Harlequins in 1990, Osborne’s first role was as Backs Coach. In 1993, he returned to Zimbabwe as National Coach, before re-joining Harlequins in 1996 as Head of Youth Development.

Collin was appointed Assistant Academy Manager in 2002 and became Academy Manager in 2006. During his time within the Academy set up, Collin was responsible for identifying and developing talent such as Jordan Turner-Hall, Chris Robshaw, George Lowe, George Robson and Mike Brown.

In 2008, Collin joined the senior coaching staff where he took a role as Assistant First Team Coach, before becoming Skills Coach.

A club legend and one of the best Premiership imports, Nick Evans joined the Harlequins coaching staff as Attacks Coach after retiring from playing in 2017.

With more than 200 Harlequins appearances to his name, Evans is the Club's record points scorer with 2249 points in a Harlequins career spanning nine years.

Beginning his career at Otago as a fullback, he quickly developed into a ruthless fly-half. Nick made his New Zealand debut in 2004 against England and went on to make 16 appearances, scoring 103 points.

After representing the All Blacks during the 2007 Rugby World Cup, he joined Harlequins from The Blues and played an integral role in the Club's successes in the professional era; kicking a touchline conversion to win the Amlin Challenge Cup in 2011 and contributing 20 points in the 2012 Aviva Premiership final.

Evans produced one of the most memorable moments in the Club's history when he scored a last minute drop goal against Stade Francais in the 2008 Heineken Cup pool stage following 29 phases.

In December 2016 it was announced that British and Irish Lion Adam Jones will combine his playing duties with an Assistant Forwards Coaching role.

Jones is one of the most recognisable front row forwards in the game and was awarded the first of his 95 Welsh caps in 2003, against England.

Winning four Six Nations titles, the Abercrave-born tight head has also competed in three Rugby World Cups and toured with the British and Irish Lions on two occasions; first in 2009 and then on the victorious 2013 tour to Australia.

Joining Harlequins after retiring from international rugby he has made an invaluable impact since joining, mentoring youthful talent in the Academy and senior set ups.

Tony Diprose is the Academy and Global Development Director at Harlequins. Diprose began coaching life with Harlequins as Academy Manager in 2008 and has overseen the development of many players currently impacting the senior squad including Will Collier, Charlie Matthews and Luke Wallace.

He began his career at Saracens while studying at Loughborough University. Tony was at the club for ten years, captaining Michael Lynagh and Philippe Sella before moving to Harlequins in 2001. The former number 8 went on to make 123 appearances for Harlequins.

His international career began in 1997 when he was awarded the first of his ten English caps against Argentina. Diprose was lucky enough to captain his country against Australia in 1998, a year after representing the British and Irish Lions during the successful 1997 tour of South Africa.

Retiring from professional rugby in 2006, Diprose joined the Harlequins coaching set up and has overseen the Club’s young talents’ success in the Aviva ‘A’ League and LV= Cup titles in 2012 and 2013. In recent years Diprose has been working on imprinting Harlequins' brand of rugby around the world-specifically in North America to expand the awareness and participation levels of the sport.